Full Description
Major social changes, especially as a result the more multicultural nature of society, have raised important issues about the teaching of religion and the rational basis of different religious faiths. Challenges for Religious Education addresses and critically examines these changes and asks where religious education and Faith Schools fit within secular society and indeed whether there is still a place for them at all.
Analysing what religious education could look like if it were considered from a wider 'world views' perspective that doesn't focus on a particular set of religious beliefs, this book considers the 'reasonableness' of holding a faith and therefore in teaching it; the ongoing tensions between faith and reason; arguments for and against the study of religious education; whether modern secular thought is itself an ideology; and the philosophical standpoints on the relationship between faith and reason.
Linking faith and reason with the issue of whether religious education is truly necessary in a modern world, Challenges for Religious Education is a crucial read for anyone interested in the future of religious education teaching in a secular society.
Contents
Dedication; Introduction; 1. Teaching religion: changing conceptions of R.E.; 2. Faith: meaning and reasonableness.; 3. Belief in God: knowledge, evidence and assent.4. Understanding the nature of God.; 5. The moral dimension: has God got a place in it?; 6. Spiritual Development.; 7. Coping with doubt - and the problem of evil.; 8. Surviving the secular age?; 9. Challenges for religious education.; 10. Indoctrination?
